Next week our new photography exhibition opens at the Walker Art Gallery and I’ve been working on a new video to spread the word about the exhibition and help bring it to life.

‘Only In England’ explores the influence of the British photographer Tony Ray-Jones on British photography and in particular how he inspired the work of Martin Parr.

“Don’t take boring pictures” was one of Ray-Jones’s key rules to follow for taking photographs, along with “Be more aggressive” and “Get in closer”. He wrote a list of these ideas in his notebook and I think they really show the kind of person he must have been and what he wanted to bring out in his photographs.

Martin Parr was strongly influenced by Ray Jones’s work and he took a series of photographs in Hebden Bridge, which he called ‘The Nonconformists’. So he also seemed to be attracted to this idea of ‘the outsider’.

Thinking about these almost rebellious attitudes of the photographers helped to bring together ideas for the video, to hopefully create an exciting preview to the exhibition. I wanted to get this tough yet humorous feeling to come through and so I chose the song ‘Louder Than You’ by (now disbanded) Liverpool band Aeris Presley as the soundtrack.

I thought the punk influence in the song was spot on to reflect the personalities of the photographers, but also that it might make an interesting and tongue-in-cheek contrast with some of the images. For example, an aggressive guitar sound accompanying the ladies falling asleep in church or the couple having a formal dinner in a field full of cows!

The photographers wanted to capture English ways of life that they felt were dying out. So I also thought the energy of the music would reflect this idea that a change was coming – whether the subjects liked or expected it or not. Little did they know that things like punk were on their way and would change English culture forever.

The track ends with the lyrics “….and I want the chance to say, that everything’s gone my way, and want it to come true and I wanna be louder than you.”

I like to think that Tony Ray-Jones might have approved of this sentiment!

The ‘Only in England’ exhibition opens on Friday 13 February at the Walker Art Gallery.

Watch the video

]]>http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2015/02/rebellious-attitude-quirky-images-and-cool-music/feed/6Meet our very clever octopus…http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2014/08/meet-our-very-clever-octopus/
http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2014/08/meet-our-very-clever-octopus/#commentsMon, 04 Aug 2014 10:14:11 +0000http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/?p=5794Our octopus is pretty clever. Octopuses need to be because they don’t have a hard shell, they don’t have any sharp venomous spikes to protect themselves and they’re pretty soft creatures who are very tasty to other sealife! If they didn’t use their brains, they’d be eaten up in no time.

Of course, our octopus doesn’t need to worry about escaping from predators; we don’t keep any in the tank with him. He doesn’t need to be feeling his way around, trying to find a quick exit or avoid being eaten.

Because octopuses are pretty intelligent we need to keep them entertained. We need to challenge them otherwise they’ll get bored. This is called enrichment and it’s a very important part of caring for animals.

We keep him stimulated by setting up little puzzles for him to solve, with food as a reward. We have a plastic screw top container where we will hide his food. As you can see from the video below he has figured out that if he unscrews it, he will get food!

We also hide food in a ‘Mr Potato Head’ toy and he will retrieve it. We like to play catch with him too, throwing him a plastic ball and sometimes there is shrimp inside for him to take. We can also build lego models with food inside, for him to take apart to collect his reward.

In the wild he’d be searching in cracks and crevices for his next meal; picking up rocks, moving them out the way, stealthily following a crab through a maze of rocks until he found the right opportunity to pounce.

Did you know that octopuses ‘smell’ with their suckers? That’s how our octopus knows there is food about. He explores his surroundings, touching and sniffing – when he gets a whiff of mackerel or crab, he will stop at nothing to figure out how to get to it!

We don’t stimulate him with simulated predator attacks. That would be unnecessary and cruel, and animals can get stressed. Stress is one of the biggest killers in marine animals.

We keep him stimulated with lots of play and food rewards to keep a bright, healthy, happy octopus for everyone to enjoy. You can come and see our octopus from 1oam-5pm every day in the Aquarium at World Museum, so why not visit this extraordinary creature?

Name our octopus!

There’s only a few weeks left to enter the ‘Name our octopus competition! Send us your name suggestions by Sunday 31 August 2014 and you could win a plush octopus toy and an animal book. Find out how to enter here.

It was a really exciting opportunity to not only meet but also interview such a renowned artist – especially a Chinese artist – as this is not something that happens every day! Zeng seemed to really enjoy talking a tour of the gallery and then telling myself and Sandra (Director of Art Galleries) about his favourite painting from the gallery, ‘Interior at Paddington’ by Lucian Freud.

You can watch the video to find out what it is about the painting that he finds particularly inspiring (I won’t spoil it for you!) but what I will mention is a story that he told us while he was off camera.

Zeng said that when he was at university in the early 90s, he really wanted to learn more about Freud and get his hands on as much information about the artist as he could. He told us that there were two libraries at his university; one for the students and one for the tutors.

It was virtually impossible for students to get access to the tutors’ library. Zeng said that he was determined though, as he wanted to study ‘Interior at Paddington’ in particular, which was in a catalogue in the tutors’ library. He eventually managed to talk his way in, find the book and make a copy of the Freud painting – it’s been his favourite Freud work ever since.

He didn’t know that it was hanging in the Walker before he came to visit – so it must have been a surprise to see it there in the flesh! It was great to find out that a painting by an iconic artist in the Walker’s collections inspired someone to go on to be a great artist themselves.

John Moores Painting Prize

The shortlist of prize winners for the John Moores Painting Prize will be announced at the opening of the exhibition on 5 July 2014 at the Walker Art Gallery. The ultimate first prize of £25,000 will be awarded in September 2014. Find out more here.

It’s been a busy few weeks for the John Moores Painting Prize. We recently announced the longlist, or those 52 artists who have been selected for the exhibition. This was the culmination of an arduous judging process which began with more than 2,500 entries

This year I spent some time in the judging room and got to see first hand how the selection is made.

It was interesting to see the differing responses the paintings provoked. The paintings were brought before the judges in a sort of ‘conveyor belt system’, carried by a member, or in the case of the larger works by several members, of the handling team. Some works caused the judges to leap out of their seat and inspect more closely. For others they remained still, letting the work wash over them from a distance. Several paintings caused intense, prolonged debate while for some the judgement – either positive or negative – was instant.

By the second day the judges wanted to see the remaining works together. They were organised roughly into genres and the judges moved between the various sections. Each work was judged on its own merit but what was also clear was that the judges were beginning to really think about the exhibition as a whole and how the selected paintings would work together within it.

At the very end of the last day the wider team, myself included, were sent out of the judging space. It was crunch time and the judges were picking their prize winners.

Sitting outside the room we discussed our favourites and took a guess at which the judges would choose. Almost two hours later we were let back in. From the 52 paintings they had chosen four prize winners and one first prize winner. I looked around, half expecting some sort of glow to appear from the winning work but there was nothing to give it away.

Behind the scenes video

“It is definitely necessary for artists to have their own point of view on society” – Zeng Fanzhi

]]>http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2014/04/john-moores-painting-prize-debating-art/feed/0Take a fresh look at the Walker Art Galleryhttp://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2014/04/take-a-fresh-look-at-the-walker-art-gallery/
http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/2014/04/take-a-fresh-look-at-the-walker-art-gallery/#commentsFri, 04 Apr 2014 13:00:58 +0000http://blog.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/?p=4181Think you know the Walker Art Gallery? Well, we hope you’ll get a new perspective on our well-loved gallery after watching this new video trailer!

We’ve worked with Mocha Productions to capture ‘a day in the life’ of the Walker and we think the end result really brings out the unique character of the building, its collections and of course, its visitors.

We were lucky enough to film one visitor in full artistic flow, sketching away in front of our imposing Henry VIII painting - he was obviously feeling inspired!

See the galleries ‘waking up’ in the morning, spot your favourite artworks (and hopefully a few surprises) and then watch as the lights go off at the end of another busy day. Let us know what you think…

Beth Tweddle has signed a copy of the Museum of Liverpool book that we’re giving away

Following Olympic gymnast Beth Tweddle’s visit to the Museum of Liverpool yesterday, we have a little competition for you to enter.

During her visit, Beth signed a copy of the fabulous Museum of Liverpool book, Liverpool- the Story of a City. The book is illustrated with the collections in the Museum and celebrates Liverpool’s rich history and the people who have made the city what it is today. Beth is undoubtedly one of those individuals, as shown in her dedication and relentless determination.

To win the signed copy of the book you’ll need to watch this video and answer the question: where was our video interview with Beth filmed?

Send your answers, along with your name, postal address and phone number to: press@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk by midnight on Monday 18 March 2013. The winner will be drawn and notified on Tuesday 19 March 2013.

Beth, who trains and studied in Liverpool, visited the Museum of Liverpool yesterday to see a sculpture of her body on display, which was created by body cast sculptor Louise Giblin. Beth was also presented with her own edition of the piece which is called ‘Olympian Series II – Beth Tweddle MBE’.

Beth is genuinely inspiring. Last year at her home games, she became the first British woman in history to win an Olympic gymnastics medal and the oldest female competitor to win a medal in gymnastics in nearly 50 years. Prior to this, Beth is a three-time World Champion, six-time European Champion, Commonwealth Champion and has won seven consecutive National Championships too.

Louise Giblin was inspired by Beth’s performance at the 2009 World Championships at London’s O2 Arena and has incorporated aspects into the bronze sculpture, such as the London Eye, leaping gymnasts and the Thames which weaves across the middle of the sculpture. If you take a look at the back of the sculpture you will see how Louise has used sweeping lines to create a spine and muscles which represent Beth’s strength and agility.

People of all ages are invited to the Museum of Liverpool on Saturday 15 October to get involved with an interactive filmmaking experiment aiming to create a film that mixes old and new footage of the Pier Head together, to create a looping video mix that will take the audience on a journey through time.

If you have any old or new video footage of the Pier Head and would like to be involved in this collaborative video project, Re-Dock is inviting you to contribute this so that it can be used to create the film which will be show on gallery during the day. Whether you have footage or not, and would like to take the role of editor during this unique film experience, pop along to the Museum of Liverpool between 12 and 4pm on Saturday 15 October to try your hand.

How you can get involved

Re-Dock is looking for digital format clips of no longer than three minutes of video footage of the area around the Pier Head, which could be footage from this summer or from years ago.

Footage of the On the Waterfront events including the fantastic projections on the Royal Liver Building and the Museum of Liverpool, or of one of a number of cruise ships coming into port on the Mersey are just a couple of ideas for contributions.

The easiest way to contribute is to upload it to the project blog at: http://pierheadtimewarp.wordpress.com or you can bring your footage along on the day on a DVD or USB drive and Re-Dock will aim to include it in the project.

Please remember the Pier Head Time Warp can only use video footage if it belongs to you or you have permission to use it. Contact Neil Winterburn at Re-Dock on 07528 316 230, neil@re-dock.org or via the website to discuss sharing your video footage.

A film artwork by the influential contemporary artist Marcus Coates, will be on display for the first time in Liverpool at the Walker Art Gallery from 1 August 2010 to early 2011. Both funny and touching, this work is well worth checking out if you are in the city for the Liverpool Biennial (17 September to 28 November 2010).

‘Journey to the Lower World’, a major piece of work by Coates, was bought by the gallery with the help of the Contemporary Art Society’s Acquisitions Scheme. The film is an exciting addition to the gallery’s internationally renowned collection. The work arose from ‘Further Up in the Air’, a residency programme for artists in Liverpool’s Sheil Park estate in 2003.

In the film residents from Linosa Close, a tower block awaiting demolition, watch with a mixture of anxiety, faith and good humour as Coates performs a shamanic ritual. Dressed in a deer skin and uttering eerie, animalistic grunts, he attempts to answer the emotive question put to him by his audience: “Do we have a protector for this site? What is it?”

You will see judges Gary Hume, Ged Quinn and Alison Watt talking about the competition so far and footage from inside the judging room itself, with snatches of their discussions!

Fellow judges Goshka Macuga and Sir Norman Rosenthal were absent due to the ban on flights at the time because of the volcanic ash problems. Their choices were included as Reyahn King, Head of Art Galleries at National Museums Liverpool, read out their preferences during the judging process.